Sometimes the best moment in a TV show is an unexpected cameo

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In 2001, Brad Pitt guest starred on the wildly popular sitcom Friends. This isn’t a particularly notable fact out of context – other film stars like Sean Penn, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and Winona Ryder all appeared on the show over its 10 seasons. What was notable was that in 2001 Brad Pitt was half of one of the most photographed couples in the world – he was married to Friends star Jennifer Aniston (who played Rachel). The cherry on the sundae was that in the episode Brad Pitt’s character Will, a former classmate of Rachel, Ross and Monica’s, absolutely hated Rachel. The whole episode revolves around the revelation that Ross and Will started an “I Hate Rachel Green” club in high school, a club that Will is still determined to be a part of.

Brad Pitt (centre) in the “I hate Rachel Green” episode of Friends.

There’s a bunch of other stuff in that episode that has not aged well (which is a common theme with Friends, and unfortunately almost all sitcoms of that era). What has aged well is the stunt casting of Pitt, which is even more spicy in the context of their equally publicised split a few years later. It wasn’t just that Pitt took the role to advertise his appearance in an upcoming film, Spy Game – remember that? Me neither – it was that he knew (we all knew) that his role as a Rachel-hating geek was funny because in real life they were actually in love. That extra knowledge is what made the episode enjoyable. That’s the joy of stunt casting.

Whenever you’ve looked at the screen and said, “Oh my god!” it’s probably because of stunt casting … or because you’re watching Game of Thrones. (Which also employed stunt casting more than once: hello wildly unpopular Ed Sheeran cameo!) Anyway, for those unfamiliar with the concept, stunt casting is when a wildly famous person pops up in a show unannounced. Sometimes they do it to promote another project (think Britney Spears popping up on Sabrina the Teenage Witch when she had a new single or Jay Leno promoting his memoir on The Nanny) and sometimes they just do it for funsies.

Sting was one of the many notable guest stars and cameos in season one of Only Murders in the Building.Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu

There are different types of stunt casting. Sometimes it’s pure gimmick, as in the case of Ed Sheeran. Other times it’s when someone supremely famous pops up in a small role in a minor show that’s way below their paygrade – like Paris Hilton in My Name is Earl, Quentin Tarantino in Alias or Larry David in Hannah Montana – as sort of a joke about how unlikely it is that they would be there. Sometimes, as in the case of Pitt on Friends, the show is using the audience’s knowledge of the celebrity’s real life to add a layer of textual reference to the show without needing to say anything.

It’s a novelty, basically. Generally, the more shocking the better. When it works, it brings a new layer of meaning to a story, seasoning a show with a little umami to bring out a whole different level of flavour. When it doesn’t, it feels like a cheap headline grab that totally distracts and takes you out of whatever is happening on screen (again, Ed Sheeran).

Does it count as a stunt when the guest star was part of the original cast? When Samantha made her much-publicised “return” to And Just Like That... last week, it didn’t feel like a triumph. It felt like a seven-second clip we had waited two months to see. Would it have worked better if it hadn’t leaked? We’ll never know. Danny DeVito’s turn in season two of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was so successful that they ended up keeping him on for 15 more seasons – and no, that is not a misprint.

Disney+’s Only Murders in the Building has had a lot of fun with stunt casting. The Arconia apartment building – where the action, and murders, are set – is quite swanky, so it seems perfectly reasonable to cast Sting and Amy Schumer as residents. Season three ramps it up considerably, casting Paul Rudd as this year’s murder victim and Meryl Streep as one of the suspects. The fact that both their plots lampoon their real lives is what makes it (Paul Rudd is stuck in a Marvel-esque franchise about a man who can turn into a cobra; Meryl Streep plays a struggling, maybe awful, actor who is waiting for her big break).

So, can it still be called a “stunt” if they are series regulars? Yellowjackets bolstered its ’90s credentials by casting actors who were child stars or teen idols back then, making you feel just as nostalgic in the current day parts of the show as you do the flashbacks. They bank so much on you being thrilled to see Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskey that even when the plot gets shaky, the novelty they bring makes up for it.

Ed Sheeran (with Maisie Williams) was one of several high-profile figures who unexpectedly turned up in a small role in Games of Thrones.Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO

When it works, it works. When The Bear does stunt casting, it bloody works. Adding beloved character actor Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, We Own This City) to the first season as a character who is spoken about warmly for a whole season before we actually see him, was genius – for a character that looms that large over the story, you need to cast someone with a certain TV pedigree. Spoilers going forward for those who haven’t seen season 2 of The Bear, but the stunt casting is ramped up to 11 – Marcus is being taught to chef by Will Poulter? Carmy’s cousin is Sarah Paulson? She’s married to John Mulaney? Carmy’s mum is Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis! It shocks you when these people pop up for the first time, but it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s less “look at this big star” and more “these are the dramatic stakes we’re playing with, folks”.

But that’s not even the best part. Another Oscar winner, Olivia Colman, shows up in a single quiet scene that hits harder because you know she’s the one delivering it. The gravitas she brings makes you sit with the restrained moment a little longer. It’s no longer a stunt; it’s a revelation.

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